EVH 5150 III 50W 6L6 vs EL34

[Guitarjon]

I now have both the EVH 5150 III 50W 6L6 and the EL34 so it made a lot of sense for me to make a comparison of both! While I was working on the comparison however, the new 6L6 amp broke down and I had to get a replacement from Thomann. Luckily they sorted it out very quickly and I had my new head within a couple of days! Wonderful!

In short: the 6L6 is more tight and bright overall but in most cases the difference is quite subtle. The blue channels, that's where the biggest difference is at as you'll hear in the comparison. The EL34's blue channel is more fat and loose. There still is a difference with the green and red channels though. I don't know whether that's because of the different powertubes, the general voicing of the amp or maybe biasing? Either way, this was a lot of fun!

I hope you find it useful:

 

[Moony]

Great video, as always! 👍

 

[saxon68]

I preferred the 6L6 blue channel, I had the first rev that didn’t have the concentric pots. If it had them I’d likely still be using it

 

[Rudy v]

If you like to sound close to a 6l6 blue channel.,you have to yes, cut the capacitor c137 on your evh el34 thats it ,its more open sounding, and if your look at the 6l6with the concentric knops its not even in there lol. And for your lead, the red channel c36 have to be change from 1nf to a 10nf capacitor sounds more like the blue channel but with much more gain.

 

[Moony]

@Guitarjon if you don't mind that I mention one of your YT colleagues - Ninecore Neil has just made a comparison between the EVH EL34 version and the Marshall JVM:



Both superb sounding amps!

 

[RCM 800]

I think I would do better with the EL34 as Im not really a high gain player anymore. Even what I consider my heavy stuff lends its self better to crunch. They do sound close though. Odd they chose to create two different amps rather than just have a bias switch like Mesa Boogie.

 

[Moony]

Odd they chose to create two different amps rather than just have a bias switch like Mesa Boogie.

I haven't looked into the schematics of the EL34 version but I guess it's a slightly different circuit too.

 

[paul-e-mann]

I now have both the EVH 5150 III 50W 6L6 and the EL34 so it made a lot of sense for me to make a comparison of both! While I was working on the comparison however, the new 6L6 amp broke down and I had to get a replacement from Thomann. Luckily they sorted it out very quickly and I had my new head within a couple of days! Wonderful!

In short: the 6L6 is more tight and bright overall but in most cases the difference is quite subtle. The blue channels, that's where the biggest difference is at as you'll hear in the comparison. The EL34's blue channel is more fat and loose. There still is a difference with the green and red channels though. I don't know whether that's because of the different powertubes, the general voicing of the amp or maybe biasing? Either way, this was a lot of fun!

I hope you find it useful:

I heard clean and mean but nothing in between. Good demo as usual but how about some low gain tones! Hey Jon where you from, I detect a regional accent in your speech.

 

[Guitarjon]

I heard clean and mean but nothing in between. Good demo as usual but how about some low gain tones! Hey Jon where you from, I detect a regional accent in your speech.

The Netherlands

 

[kilroy]

Great video. I have an EL34 and my buddy has a 6L6 which I've used quite a bit. Both sound great, but I prefer the EL34. It's a bit fatter and darker.

 

[SuperFleeky]

I now have both the EVH 5150 III 50W 6L6 and the EL34 so it made a lot of sense for me to make a comparison of both! While I was working on the comparison however, the new 6L6 amp broke down and I had to get a replacement from Thomann. Luckily they sorted it out very quickly and I had my new head within a couple of days! Wonderful!

In short: the 6L6 is more tight and bright overall but in most cases the difference is quite subtle. The blue channels, that's where the biggest difference is at as you'll hear in the comparison. The EL34's blue channel is more fat and loose. There still is a difference with the green and red channels though. I don't know whether that's because of the different powertubes, the general voicing of the amp or maybe biasing? Either way, this was a lot of fun!

I hope you find it useful:

As always, top notch production and playing on your demo! I've always looked forward to your videos. I eventually let go of my 5150 EL34 as I prefer the 6L6's more focused tones. You're right though, both amps are killer; it's just a matter of taste as to which one is preferred.

 

[Rudy v]

No noise on the red channel low tune guitar's dail your gain,noon on the red channel you use a noise gate, Its not sounding like a 5105 iii el34 sound nothing like it ,all of your amps sound the same.

 

[Guitarjon]

No noise on the red channel low tune guitar's dail your gain,noon on the red channel you use a noise gate, Its not sounding like a 5105 iii el34 sound nothing like it ,all of your amps sound the same.

Too bad there's no emoticon for confusion...

 

[Rudy v]

You can 't play high gain amps

 

[LeftyGtrPlr]

As always, top notch production and playing on your demo! I've always looked forward to your videos. I eventually let go of my 5150 EL34 as I prefer the 6L6's more focused tones. You're right though, both amps are killer; it's just a matter of taste as to which one is preferred.

Agree on the production and the playing!

I'm just the opposite, as I sold my 6L6 and kept the EL34. There was just something that I couldn't dial out on the 6L6 that just didn't sit well with me. I think EL34/Marshall-esqe territory is just my sweet spot.

 

[Dean Swindell]

I now have both the EVH 5150 III 50W 6L6 and the EL34 so it made a lot of sense for me to make a comparison of both! While I was working on the comparison however, the new 6L6 amp broke down and I had to get a replacement from Thomann. Luckily they sorted it out very quickly and I had my new head within a couple of days! Wonderful!

In short: the 6L6 is more tight and bright overall but in most cases the difference is quite subtle. The blue channels, that's where the biggest difference is at as you'll hear in the comparison. The EL34's blue channel is more fat and loose. There still is a difference with the green and red channels though. I don't know whether that's because of the different powertubes, the general voicing of the amp or maybe biasing? Either way, this was a lot of fun!

I hope you find it useful:

 

[Dean Swindell]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm an inch away from getting the EL34. I've never been interested at all in any EVH gear, I think (except for the strats) it's really fugly, until I saw the gold one - nice. Anyway I read a bit and watched a few videos, both very good and very very bad. Then today I went to guitar center to see if they had one to try in person and all they had was a third one, black , very good looking, the "50S". I really liked it very much, might just get one. But nothing's different besides the appearance for an extra $200 and I wonder why they added the "S". Anyway if I get it it'll be the gold.

 

[tallcoolone]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm an inch away from getting the EL34. I've never been interested at all in any EVH gear, I think (except for the strats) it's really fugly, until I saw the gold one - nice. Anyway I read a bit and watched a few videos, both very good and very very bad. Then today I went to guitar center to see if they had one to try in person and all they had was a third one, black , very good looking, the "50S". I really liked it very much, might just get one. But nothing's different besides the appearance for an extra $200 and I wonder why they added the "S". Anyway if I get it it'll be the gold.

It’s a cool amp, def best at ‘clean to mean’ but the blue channel can get some decent low gain grind.

 

[Guitarjon]

So this video completes my story/"adventure" with the EVH 5150III 50w 6L6. It really sucks because it sounded great. I don't want to cause any drama, just give you guys an honest look of the "completely experience" I had with the amp:

 

[Moony]

@Guitarjon

GREAT video!
And biggest respect for sharing it here!

I would also have asked if it might have been the same amp as the first and that it might have been a bad preamp tube on the second.
And I would also have recommended that you contact EVH customer support and watch the videos by Lyle aka Psionic Audio.

You covered that all and even more which tells me that you've put a lot of thought into it and didn't just want to make a "let's bash EVH amps" videos.

Hopefully your other EL34 EVH amp will work for a long time!